Sweltering in the swamp cooling computer room - computers go way slow, another of the slight jolts in being welcomed back to India. I'll start this post but might not get so far as the bus is leaving in a bit and I did want my third shower in less than 24 hours before leaving Delhi.
6/21/05
Summer solstice at 16:45 PM LA time. Increasing clouds. Getting sleepy. I arrived at LAX bumper to bumper. With Andrew in the back of the car raging about the absence of lockers at LAX and Ronny on the phone to Bex about baby bottles not on board. "Ignorance like a fox" he chuckled. Good this way. Snarling traffic, do you really have to be there 3 hours ahead of time? What happened to that 70's hour window? Curses, I am totally weighed down thistime - 2 big bags are stuffed with lap tops, and gifts (flinchingly seeing my bags thrown about). My one prideful moment of packing extremely lightly 2 years ago is way over now. These are the adrenaline times. When practice crumbles and sleep is no where in sight, the heart flutters and you are walking bones to the checkin counter, wondering if anyone else feels like you? The guy next to me runs off to buy his family of four chicken mc nuggets. Daddy, chicken mc nuggets, yes please! I flash to the stats from Super Size Me. Oh my it is packed today. The first of many lines to get onto the plane. First the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) weaving between poles. Large boxy suitcases on wheels. My carry-on is pre-wheels. Big guys, latino women in supportive back braces swing the luggage behind a wall for inspection. Can't touch it after that, can't even lock it up or wheel it to the counter yourself. post 911. What a moniker. Post 911. Post emergency? We have changed.
So many people in the world now. So many styles. So many wheeled on carry on luggage. So many lives. Air travel is common place. 500 people share hours together. Getting served. Some yell they haven't been served properly. One family is told their suitcase is too heavy - so there they are re-packing in the middle of the hall, the husband and wife yelling over the din...trying to place the blame on one another. The chicken mc nugget quotient intervenes...pacify the kids, stuff em with this substance and shut everyone up.
I feel great fortune to be going back to India yet I am cranky. You wouldn't know it - I'm a good faker...It's just that I haven't had a proper practice regime in weeks. My head has been a big list - I've become a creature of structured insularity. To thrust me into budging mode is against constructions or concepts of aging and some type of sedentary grasping.
The cabin lights have gone on. Couldn't understand the pilots' garble but we're close. Flying with the full moon the entire way. Rush to Pilgrimage, flashes of yoga poses in Pune, crammed in seating at HHDL's teachings, seeing old robed friends. Resurfacing gratitude for all the friends I said goodbye to yesterday...never alone.
Even Mom called. "No, I wouldn't say you're tenacious. Jill is tenacious. You're just reckless." Never fish for a compliment with her. Yet she knows what the weather is like in India, and how I should prepare to leave early for LAX. Hasn't told Dad but will avidly read this blog. Getting my head examined by Lord Buddha.
Speaking of, India is now being touted in Thai Airways magazine as the place to 'Walk with Buddha." a large picture of a Buddha statue from Ladakh falls under the caption, "in a world full of questions, where do you go for an answer? On a journey into yourself - visit the land of the Buddha - Incredible India."
23:50 Flying to Bangkok
12 hours to Osaka, a pause to disembark, get back in line and re-ascend the plane, like cattle. This pilot likes to ride the turbulents and I'm so tired I finally succumb to the minor jolts. The prior flight had my stomach in intermitten knots and deep fears of plunging into the Pacific - had me really studying the life jacket demo - who has time to snap that belt around one's waist? And in recent air flying past, have planes split in half because of turbulents? What's it like to plunge 32000 feet? I should ask David J, my skydiving friend who threatens to give me a jump for my next birthday present. Am I ready? All kinds of disturbing thoughts to keep me from resting...I'm cranky cuz this plane doesn't have those cool screens on the back of every seat. And the movies are quite unenticing...(Be Cool...yikes!)... So this secont portion gave me the opportunity to let go, fill in the air seat and sleep. Interesting how my mind feel fresher now even as the teeth and mouth feel worse.
Body is stiff never mind the yoga. I wrap my head, Iyengar style, pulling the wrap over my eyes. Post 911, wondering if the cabin crew will think I'm putting on my crazy lady gear before I start shrieking? No one cares. What an invention! Then I think of Guruji (BKS Iyengar) sitting in an air chair - would he wrap his head? Would he get up to stretch? How stiff would his body be? And where does His Holiness sit on the plane? And rich people, do they have a yoga room upstairs in the front? On and on it goes...
